


bury a friend

by WalkingOnJupiter



Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Best Friends, Blood and Injury, Childhood Friends, Clay | Dream Needs a Hug (Video Blogging RPF), Demon Hunters, Dream Smp, Dreamon, Dreamon Hunters, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Friends, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Enemies, Friendship, GeorgeNotFound Visits Clay | Dream in Prison (Video Blogging RPF), Hurt GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Hurt Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Hurt TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Hurt/Comfort, Long-Haired Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Nightmares, Other, Possessed, Prison, Sad Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Sad Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF), Sad Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Soft Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Touch-Starved Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-14 03:00:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29535798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WalkingOnJupiter/pseuds/WalkingOnJupiter
Summary: Dream isn’t himself and hasn’t been for a while now.Sapnap is determined to bring his best friend back.
Relationships: Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 206





	1. Somebody That I Used To Know

Sapnap remembers the first time he met Dream, back when they were both still kids. He doesn’t think he’d ever be able to forget it, really.

It had been in a field, somewhere Sapnap often went to play alone as a child. Being the youngest of all his siblings meant none of them really wanted to hang out with him a lot, instead they would go off doing their own thing, killing mobs, going on adventures through caves and mining, exploring the world. Sapnap was told he wasn’t allowed to venture further than that field, in fear of him getting hurt, so most days he was just left to his own devices. Then one day Dream stumbled across the field. 

Clay, that’s what Dream had introduced himself as. And Sapnap had been known as Nick. He remembers both of them hating their given names, and them also being the ones who gave each other their current nicknames, which had somehow caught on and stuck throughout their lives, of Dream and Sapnap one day.

He remembers Dream being this outgoing and funny kid, only older than Sapnap by about a year. He remembers being ecstatic, practically vibrating with excitement about the fact that he finally had someone his age to be friends with.

His mum had been glad that Sapnap was finally making friends and hanging out with others. She thought that Dream was an amazing influence on him.

Ha. She didn’t know the real Dream. Looking back on it, Dream was a horrible influence growing up, but hey, he was fun and he was Sapnap’s best friend. If he hadn’t met Dream, he probably wouldn’t be who he was today.

He remembers Dream convincing him to finally go against his mums orders of stay in the field and them sneaking away to explore the world on their own. Them wandering too far out and having to navigate their way back home before Sapnap’s mum could figure out that they’d left in the first place. And on the days that they didn’t sneak away on their own journeys, he had multiple fond memories of he and Dream playing around in fields of tall grass and flowers from sunrise to sunset when they would finally have to finally leave each other to go home for the night and memories of he and Dream practicing together, of Dream teaching him how to get better at one on one fighting.

And if he hadn’t met Dream, he definitely wouldn’t have met George that one day he and Dream had wandered too far from the field.

The Dream Team. The nickname had stuck and that’s what the three of the, became known as together. They were inseparable, they did everything together. And they didn’t need anything other than each other.

Sapnap can’t help but miss those days. He thought about them often, wished he could somehow turn back time and be a kid again, relive those days where he was carefree, where he, Dream and George would spend their days together.

He he hates the fact that he can’t help but feel like those amazing childhood memories had become tainted with his Dream had been acting recently.

It’s been around four months now. Since Dream was thrown into the prison, that is.

Since then, everyone had been less on edge. There had been much less fighting between everyone and for the first time in a while, people were genuinely getting along, rebuilding friendships that had been broken down in the midsts of the constant war.

For Sapnap it just wasn’t that easy, though. His normal was gone.

He and George barely spoke these days, and Dream was gone. They weren’t the Dream Team anymore. Nothing was the same.

Sapnap doesn’t know what happened, he’s unsure where along the line that Dream started changing, becoming obsessed with the idea of power and control. The place that had started out as a place of safety and no fighting when he, Dream and George had found it, had turned into a place of war and constant arguments.

He doesn’t know what changed Dream, but he knows when it had started. When Tommy and Tubbo had come, specifically Tommy.

Now, Sapnap wasn’t saying this was all Tommy’s fault at all. If anything, Tommy was the victim here, he went through the most of Dream’s bullshit. However, it did all start with those stupid discs.

Sapnap had followed Dream, he had taken the side of his best friend, as anyone else would do. But it got to a stage where he started questioning Dream and his orders, a stage where following Dream was quite blatantly the wrong thing to do in this situation. Dream’s clear infatuation with the idea of power had, seemingly, corrupted him. It had taken over his mind.

He doesn’t remember when Dream started acting like this, when he stopped caring.

_I don’t give a fuck about anything_

_I have lost all care for anything here_

The words still hurt. They would replay in his mind like a broken record. That was the moment Sapnap realised that he’d lost his best friend. That he was just a pawn in this sick game Dream was playing. That he was being used.

Sapnap would try to avoid the memory of finding out, hearing Tommy repeating those exact words back to him. He remembers at first, he didn’t want to believe it. He denied it.

_Surely he still cares about me, right? You think?_

Dream wouldn’t say that, right? He cared about George. He cared about him. They had always looked out for each other, Sapnap had been by his side through thick and thin. He had to care at least a little bit.

He’d hoped Dream would prove him wrong, would correct himself and tell them that he does care, that the words had been blurted out in the heat of the moment.

_That’s not what happened._

When he and George had confronted Dream, he hadn’t denied it. He hadn’t tried to lie to them.

_Just say you hate me._

George had been just as upset and hurt, if not, more. Dream had shown he didn’t care about them, he had pushed them away, he had willingly fought against them. Loosing a friend wasn’t easy, but knowing that Dream had used them to win his wars before casting them aside when he didn’t need them anymore hurt so much more.

He wasn’t the same person Sapnap had known for all those years. They’d gone from best friends to complete and utter strangers in the span of months.

He didn’t even know Dream anymore.

And that was a hard pill to swallow.

But Sapnap just couldn’t let it go. Not that easily, at least. He needed answers, he wanted to talk to Dream.

So that’s how he found himself at the prison, fidgeting nervously with his hands as he follows Sam through the dim hallways, presumably towards Dreams cell. He’d put off this visit for months, as long as he could, at least, but his curiosity got the best of him.

The large building was daunting, and quiet. Much too quiet for Sapnap’s liking, for that matter. It was clear that the prison was well built, designed with care and attention to any and all details. The place was inescapable from what Sapnap had heard, with multiple security features preventing prisoners from escaping, and preventing people from breaking in to try to help a prisoner escape.

From what he had heard, at least. He had purposely avoided having to come anywhere near the prison. It unnerved him being anywhere near it, yet here he was.

He just wants answers. He doesn’t plan on staying long, he just wants to know, he wants to know why Dream did what he did, why he pushed everyone away. He wants closure. He wants to be able to sleep peacefully at night, he didn’t want to spend another night up late wondering what went wrong.

“Sapnap?” Sapnap startles slightly, head snapping towards Sam as they stand in front of a large wall of lava. He doesn’t even remember getting here, too caught up in his own thoughts. “You alright? Are you ready?” 

“Yeah- yeah... I’m good. Just nervous.” His voice was

Sam looks at Sapnap sympathetically, watching as the black haired male fiddles with the sleeves of his hoodie.

He knows how hard this was on Sapnap. Dream was his best friend, and this isn’t a place you ever want to see a normal friend, let alone one you’ve been close to for ten years.

“If this is too hard for you, you don’t have to do this. I can take you back to the entrance. Is that what you want?” His usually harsh prison guard voice falters for a second, eyes filled with genuine concern.

And for a second, Sapnap considered it. He considered turning back and running, not having to see Dream after all.

But he doesn’t. Despite the nervousness, fear and regret of even stepping foot in the prison in the first place making him feel almost nauseous, He knows if he turns and leaves at this stage he wouldn’t be able to do this again.

“No. No I’m good.” He takes a deep breath, “You can drop the lava.”

Sam only nods, pulling a lever on one side of the room. “When the lava drops step onto the platform and walk with it. When you’re into the cell the lava will close behind you again and you will be alone with the prisoner.”

Sapnap nods in understanding, heart beating slightly faster in anticipation and nervousness as he waits for the lava to drop, staring into the blazing, molten liquid and kind of wishing he still had the choice to back out now that the lava was slowly disappearing.

_He contemplates it._

But he doesn’t.


	2. The Prison Visit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sapnap see’s Dream for the first time in months.
> 
> It doesn’t exactly go how he’s expecting it to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m gonna try to update this work weekly! Schools gonna be starting back up and I also have another work I wanna work on so some updates may be slightly late! :))

Sapnap feels his breath catching in his throat as the lava finally disappears, and for the first time in what feels like years, he catches a glimpse of the person he’s called his best friend for the past ten years of his life.

He glances back cautiously at Sam, who can only offer him an reassuring nod in return as the platform start to move beneath him. In his nervousness he so almost forgets to move along with it, and he stumbles slightly in shock, but manages to will his legs to carry him forwards on the platform, not daring to glance down at the pool of lava still draining beneath him.

He enters the cell on the other side of the lava pit, and almost as soon as he steps off, the platform is drawn back, leaving him stranded in the cell.

Dream is sat on the floor, barely bothering to look up at him or even acknowledge his presence. Almost like he doesn’t care.

_It’s because he doesn’t care._

Sapnap hates that he has to keep reminding himself of that fact.

He feels unwanted tears burning in the back of his eyes as he stares at Dream. Every emotion he had tried to block out of his mind for the past couple months and forget came rushing back as he stared at his friend.

Only a couple minutes. Just a few questions and then he’d be gone. He didn’t want to stay here longer than he had to.

He looks away, taking a deep breath in an attempt to compose himself, to calm himself down. He wasn’t sure he could trust himself to even speak yet, so instead he glances around himself, trying to take in his surroundings.

The cell wasn’t exactly big, but it wasn’t small either. Made of a mixture of normal obsidian and crying obsidian and surrounded in lava, it was now dawning on him just how secure this prison was, how trapped his best friend was here. It was practically bare, void of any type of decoration or anything that could possible be used to entertain himself.

Separating him and Dream was a barrier, most likely to prevent dream from trying to hop onto the platform to escape while someone was visiting.

“Dropping the lava.” He vaguely hears Sam say, and he nods in acknowledgement.

As the lava encloses them in the cell, and Sapnap takes a deep breath.

The air in the cell is tense, and Sapnap finally allows his eyes to meet Dreams gaze again, looking him up and down slowly.

He looks different, but that’s probably expected after spending four months in prison. His hair was longer than usual, pulled back into a man bun on top of his head to keep it out of his face, his normally bright green eyes were dull, lifeless even. His usual green hoodie, cargo pants and combat boots were replaced with an ugly, and probably uncomfortable, orange jumpsuit and the signature white smile mask Dream usually donned was missing. Instead of the white ceramic mask, he could see all the details of Dreams face. His numerous freckles, and the scar that he had running from his cheekbone, down his right cheek.

He can’t bear the sight of seeing him in here. He couldn’t help but still consider him as his best friend, even after everything that had happened. He doesn’t think it’s that easy. Something inside him wants to believe there’s something more to Dreams actions, something that he’s not seeing. Seeing him here, stuck and alone, wasn’t easy, but it was for the best.

Sapnap knew that.

“Hello.” Dreams voice is monotone, and his face was seemingly void of any emotion, seemingly unfazed by the fact that he was stuck in this cell. Sapnap hated it, hated how Dream was acting. He hated how he felt uneasy under his friends gaze. He wanted to leave.

He doesn’t. He sinks to the floor in front of his best friend instead crossing his legs.

“Why?” Is all he manages to blurt out, voice shaky, “Why did you do it, Dream?”

Dream doesn’t answer, only shrugs. Almost like he didn’t have a good answer to give Sapnap.

The blonde tilts his head instead, “It took you a while to visit me.” Dream completely ignores the questions.

Sapnap is caught off guard by the statement, stammering over his words slightly, “Well... I don’t know man, you hurt a lot of people... you hurt me.” He sighs, “Coming to see you wasn’t the easiest decision. I don’t even know is I want to be here.”

“Then why are you here?” It was a stupid question. Dream isn’t stupid, he knows why Sapnap is there.

Dream doesn’t say anything at that for a while until;

“I’m sorry, Sapnap.”

It seems forced, insincere. Almost like he’s just trying to satisfy him with a bad apology yet again.

It was something Dream had done a lot over the past months. He would do something Sapnap didn’t like, then give him a half-assed, uncaring apology to get Sapnap off his back.

It pissed Sapnap off. And it most definitely wasn’t going to work this time.

He can’t help it, the outburst of anger coming before he could even stop to rethink, “Are you? Are you really?” He demands with a harsh scoff that causes Dream to flinch, “Are you sorry for everything you did to everyone? Are you sorry for practically destroying everything? For pushing all of your friends away? For all all the pain you caused? What are you sorry for?” He’s shouting now, voice echoing off of the cell walls.

He doesn’t even realise that he’s started crying until the end of his outburst. His vision is blurry, tears running down his face before he could even comprehend it.

He wipes them away angrily, but they still return, “Why did you do it?” His voice cracks slightly.

Dream doesn’t answer, instead he avoids Sapnap’s gaze, avoids meeting his eyes.

“Talk to me, Dream! Just fucking talk! Please, help me understand. I want to understand!” He’s frustrated, angry, overwhelmed. All the emotions he had managed to keep bottled up over the last few months were crashing over him, questions spilling from his mouth before he could even allow Dream time to answer the previous ones.

“To bring this server together, to make everyone one big, happy, family again. That’s my reasoning.” Dream answers stiffly, watching the tears running down his friends face.

Sapnap stares at him in disbelief, shaking his head slowly, “I don’t believe you. There’s other ways- so many other ways- that you could have brought everyone together. You’re lying.”

Again, no response. Dream goes silent, looking away from Sapnap, avoiding eye contact.

Sapnap follows Dream gaze to where the blonde was fixated on staring at the clock in his cell. They sit in silence for a while, with Sapnap glaring at his hands, contemplating what to say next.

“Dream...” Sapnap mumbles quietly as he looks back up. He’d allowed himself to calm down, anger having dissipated so that all he was left with was hurt, “Dream, look at me. Please?”

Dream complies, eyes meeting his again.

“You-you’ve done bad things. You deserve to be here.” It’s hard to say it, but that’s the reality. Dream didn’t even seem phased or remotely sorry for his actions. He was dangerous.

“I’ll get out of here one day.” Is all the blonde replies. He seems so sure, almost like he’s already planning his escape.

Sapnap shakes his head, “No, dude. This-“ he takes a deep breath, “This is where you need to be.”

“I had a plan. I was going to get out. And then Sam figured it out, he put crying obsidian everywhere to stop me making a portal. He did this.”

Sapnap looks around the cell again. He hasn’t even thought about or questioned the fact that the mixtures of obsidian could have be a security feature. He feels the urge to roll his eyes. Of course Dream had already tried to get out.

“You can’t keep trying to escape, Dream.” He can feel himself getting angry again, “Look, I miss you- I miss the old you, but this is where you belong for now”

“Eventual-“

Sapnap cuts him off, “No! You aren’t listening to me. You’re not getting out. Not anytime in the near future, maybe not at all. You did this to yourself.” He sighs in exhaustion, “I don’t think you’re leaving here at all. Stop making this harder.”

Dream only shrugs, as if to say ‘you can’t stop me’ or ‘you’ll see’. Dream was stubborn, always had been, but Sapnap was too. He sends Dream a glare, almost like a warning.

“I want to be clear with you, Dream. What you did- the things you did is what got you here. If you try to break out early, or anything along those lines, it will be me who kills you. I will make sure of that. You were... you are my best friend, dude, but I’m not gonna let you hurt anyone else. Not anymore.” That was a promise. Dream was good at fighting, but Sapnap was too. They were almost, if not completely, matched in terms of skill. And Sapnap was sure if he needed to, he would be able to beat Dream.

“Do you understand me?”

Dream pauses and Sapnap could see that he was searching Sapnap’s eyes for any sort of signs that he was bluffing, that he was all talk and no bite. But there were none. 

He nods in understanding.

Sapnap sighs, combing a hand through his hair, gaze softening at the confirmation as he stares at his best friend. “What happened to you, Dream? What changed?”

Dream, yet again, doesn’t answer verbally. He pretends as if Sapnap isn’t there, leaning his head back against the cold obsidian walls and closing his eyes, effectively shutting Sapnap out.

“I miss you, dude. I miss how things used to be.”

_Again, no outward response._

“Nothings the same without you. Me and George don’t talk as often anymore. It’s hard without you.”

_It’s as if his words are falling on deaf ears._

He sucks in a shuddery breath, “I stuck by you, man... I was there for you through everything- and you used me.” He shakes his head as he fiddles with his sleeves.

At the constant lack of replies on Dream’s end, Sapnap sighs deeply, burying his head in his hands. He could already feel a fresh set of tears welling up in his eyes. He didn’t know what to do, he didn’t know how he was supposed to feel.

He should probably hate Dream now, in the same way everyone else does, but it’s not that easy. He’s not ready to let go of years of friendship. At this point, it’s not even a friendship. They were more like brothers, Dream was family. Sapnap doesn’t know if he could ever fully let go of the bond that had formed between them over the years.

He stands up, eyes drifting away from Dream, who was seemingly still all too interested in that stupid clock.

“I- You seem like you wanna be alone now. I’m gonna go. Maybe I’ll visit again soon. Would you like that? You seem lonely here, Bro.” Dream ignores him. Sapnap just sighs looking pleadingly at his friend, “It’s like I don’t even know you anymore, dude, it’s like you aren’t even yourself anymore.”

At this, Dream looks back towards him. Their eyes lock on each other again, and that’s when something clicks in Sapnap’s mind. Memories from the past few months run through his mind, things Dream has done, things he’s said. They all flood back to him. And that’s when something dawns on him-

_This isn’t Dream._

It sounds far fetched, Sapnap knows, and he isn’t exactly sure how to explain it, but he’s known Dream longer than anybody. He knows his best friend, he knows everything about him. The person sat in front of him? That wasn’t Dream. Physically, yes. But in terms of everything else? Something was wrong.

Sapnap just knew it.

“You aren’t- you’re not Dream.” He whispers to himself in realisation, “You’re not Dream.” He repeats slightly louder.

His focus returns to Dream and he freezes at the expression on his friends face. The previous blank and distant stare had disappeared, and through the dim lighting of the cell, he could see a smirk slowly growing on Dreams face.

It was as if the Dream he was speaking to just a minute before had been replaced, as if it were all an act of some sort.

It was chilling to see. The ominous smile didn’t seem to quite reach his glazed over and scarily emotionless green eyes that were boring into Sapnap. The way Dream looked at him filled him with a horrible sense of fear and panic that he had never felt before.

“What do you mean? Why wouldn’t I be me?” Dream stands up for the first time since Sapnap had entered the cell, taking a couple of threatening steps towards him.

Dream was taller than him, always had been, but this was the first time Sapnap had ever truly felt intimidated by him. 

Dream tilts his head to the side in mock curiosity, laughing at Sapnap’s terror-stricken face, almost as if he found it all funny, almost like it was a joke to him, “It’s me, Pandas.”

Sapnap felt his blood run cold at the tone. The way ‘Dream’ spoke shook him to his core. The voice was low and sinister, instead of monotonous like it had been earlier and the way the nickname rolled of his tongue made Sapnap uneasy.

It didn’t even sound remotely like the Dream he knew anymore. It was a voice that Sapnap didn’t recognise, almost like someone else was speaking through Dream’s mouth.

_He needed to get out._

Sapnap stumbles backwards a couple steps. The sudden change in Dreams attitude, the way he had been acting, the things he had been doing- it was all starting to make sense.

_So where was the real Dream? How long had Dream been gone? Who was this?_

So many questions were rushing through his mind at a mile a minute as he stares at his friend.

No, this isn’t his friend. It may look like him, but Sapnap could tell, and he doesn’t know how he didn’t notice sooner.

Sapnap backs himself up against a wall the he presses himself against as possible, going rigid with fear, unable to speak as Dream follows, standing impossibly close to him.

He flinches as Dream slams his hands down against the wall on either side of his head, caging him between his arms and leaving him no room to escape as he stares him down. Sapnap knows his heart is beating impossibly fast as his eyes study Dream’s face, wondering what he would do next.

“Guard! Sapnap wants to leave.” Is all Dream calls out, and his voice is back to normal, as if the past minute hadn’t even happened. Sapnap does a double take at the sudden switch, having to ensure that he hadn’t hallucinated this whole thing.

Dream doesn't break eye contact, still grinning eerily at the pure fear and shock on Sapnap’s face.

Dream slowly brings his mouth to Sapnap’s ear.

“I think it’s time you left, Pandas.” He whispers, sending shivers down Sapnap’s spine, “I’ll be looking forward to seeing you again.”

Sapnap feels his mouth opening to speak but can’t manage to force any words out. 

He doesn’t know who he just spoke to, but one thing he does know for sure? That is not his best friend—

That’s not Dream.

**Author's Note:**

> the dreamon theory story that i have wanted to write for the last couple weeks but just didn’t have the motivation to do so- :)


End file.
